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A normal girl living her biggest, messiest dreams.

Get to know me

As seen on

These are my unfiltered adventures, musings and stories.
I talk about birds, coffee and overcoming personal fears too much.

100
ish countries
7
continents
14
odd years
Find me on or or I'll email you!

My recent adventures

A big life update: join me in the Arctic

Let me help your travel dreams come true by connecting you with an Arctic adventure

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Takaka: a golden getaway to Golden Bay

This remote corner of New Zealand packs a punch

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How the Heaphy Track become my new favorite Great Walk

Predatory snails, prehistoric-looking rare birds, and a flat track? Count me in!

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More adventures from the blog

My favorite stories

All the mean, nasty and godawful hateful things people say to me online

Guys, why do people troll on the internet? Why are blogger hate comments ...
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Solo and single in the most romantic place in the world

How glossy and polished is the travel industry today? Well, I suppose it's ...
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A broken robot: the face of a burnout

My whole life I’ve always been told that my face reads like an ...
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More inspirational stories

Where I screwed up big time

That one time I crashed a scooter in Bali

A week ago I found myself upside down in a ditch full of ...
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Getting Naked in Istanbul

**Warning this post borders on the TMI, but I thought it was too ...
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This might be my funniest story of all time

Guys, the funniest thing happened to me the other day. Now, I know I ...
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More confessions
World Map
Iceland
New Zealand Road Trip Part 1
New Zealand Road Trip Part 2
Australia
Spain
Canada
Finland

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Join me on Instagram @YoungAdventuress

youngadventuress

Solo female traveler ✈️ Author of “Houseplants & Design” 🪴 Polar expedition guide ❄️ “one of the most powerful women in travel” - Condé Nast Traveler

Liz Carlson☀️Young Adventuress
Packed away my polar uniform of the last five mont Packed away my polar uniform of the last five months from the Arctic and back home in New Zealand ☀️
Grace and chaos meet where the sea and cliffs coll Grace and chaos meet where the sea and cliffs collide. This is the northern gannet’s kingdom. There’s something mesmerizing about gannets in flight; I never get tired watching them. They’re one of my favorite seabirds. Watching them dive off Scotland’s cliffs on remote St Kilda was a dream come true.
New Zealand’s Brewster Track has blown up online New Zealand’s Brewster Track has blown up online over the past few years, and for good reason, it’s stunning. But it’s also a lot tougher (and riskier) than it looks in those pretty, viral posts.
 
@nzmountainsafetycouncil has just dropped their official Brewster Track safety video, and it’s a must-watch before you go. It breaks down what the track’s really like, from the unbridged river crossing to a steep steep STEEP climb, and why heading past the hut towards the glacier isn’t a good idea for the average tramper.
 
If Brewster’s on your bucket list, do yourself a favour and watch this first. You’ll still get the epic views and make it home safe. Be prepared. 

Link in my Stories and bio to watch.
 
#PlanMyWalk #NZMSC #BrewsterTrack #MakeItHome and thanks to my good friend @erica.clapp for some of these 📷
Home is where the slippers are, even when home hap Home is where the slippers are, even when home happens to be a ship in the middle of nowhere @glerups_nzaus. So cozy!

My Glerups, made from New Zealand wool (where I live) and shaped by Danish design (where I work - Greenland), are the perfect mix of warmth, simplicity, and good design. Many expedition guides and passengers rock Glerups onboard. They’re the perfect ship shoe, especially in polar places. I have so many pairs now; it’s a bit of a problem!

From Aotearoa to Arctic, they’ve earned their sea legs like me. No boat barfing in over a decade ✊
Pastel September sunrises in northwest Greenland ❤️
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Who is Young Adventuress?

Hi, I'm Liz, and I got my first taste for traveling when I was 16 years old. On my own, 12 years and 50 something countries later, my wanderlust has only grown and the list of countries I want to visit longer. After living in Spain for the past few years and returning home for a stint, I then quit my job and moved to New Zealand and I've been here ever since. Follow my misadventures as I wander, eat, and photograph my way around the world

Get Inspired

  • A big life update: join me in the Arctic
  • Solo female travel in your thirties? It’s so much better than you think
  • All eyes on New Zealand’s most spectacular aurora in decades
  • A year of learning to let go

Featured Stories

  • My big issue with fear and travel
  • The best hate I got in 2015
  • The Story of the Kākāpō + Giveaway
  • Why Experience Still Matters

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